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Fortunate Voyager (Scott Summers, Logan, Kitty Pryde, Bobby Drake, Enterprise ensemble | PG13 | 21,692 words): Scott, Logan, Kitty, and Bobby somehow get transported to Captain Archer's Enterprise. The best part of crossovers is, I think, getting to see a whole slew of interactions between characters who'd never meet in canon. And this is full of chances to see how different characters connect and how they react to totally new situations. Plus, it's got action and adventure.

Excerpt:Scott was frustrated he couldn't do anything to help repair the ship, but one look at the innards of a bulkhead and he knew he was out of his league. He gravitated to sickbay, where he found, to his pleasure, that he could understand some of what went on there.

"Medical technology has evolved," Phlox said as he showed Scott how to use a dermal regenerator, "but the basic principles remain the same. You'll do fine."

Logan was off guarding the prisoners and trading war stories, and Hoshi had taken the kids off to wind down. But Scott couldn't quite relax, so he scanned and set bones and cleaned wounds. Finally, the last patient was healed and either sent to their quarters or bedded down in sickbay. Phlox cleaned his hands, looking pleased, and Scott leaned against a wall, yawning.

"My fiancée was a doctor," he said, staring at the opposite wall with its hypnotic display of twisting and twining DNA strands.

"Oh?"

"She was brilliant, she was learning all about mutations, but she was always ready to stop and put a bandage on one of the kids." His face felt like it was on fire and when he looked over, Phlox was waiting. "Jean would have loved to talk to you about medicine, see your equipment."

Phlox smiled.

Why did he feel the need to talk about her now? Since her death, he'd barely said her name, but there was something freeing about this place where only his three teammates knew her, and the locals didn't feel any guilt over her death.

"I miss Jean so much," he said quietly.

Phlox nodded. "If one of my wives died, I would be saddened. As it is, being without them is the hardest thing about being on the Enterprise."

The Wisdom to Know the Difference (Peter Parker, Hank McCoy, Matt Murdock, Scott Summers | PG13 | 30,308 words | sequel to Office Hours): Hank goes through some changes, and Peter's determined to do something to help him. Seeing these chracters hang out and talk is wonderful, partly because it's not the type of thing that makes for a good movie and therefore isn't shown. But it makes sense for these guys to be friends with each other, and it's enjoyable to read. There were a couple bits that had me cringing in embarrassment for Peter, but those were short and ended while I was anticipating my embarrassment squick getting hit rather than it actually getting hit. And there were so many more times where I found myself laughing out loud.

Excerpt:Peter gave him a head start before following, but even with a throbbing ribcage and aching shoulder slowing him down, he still beat Daredevil to the rooftop. There were some wooden crates and a couple of plastic, five-gallon buckets strewn around, and after making sure there was nothing too gross in it, Peter toed one of the buckets upside down and lowered himself onto it. Daredevil stood, arms folded.

For a moment, Peter just sat there and looked at his lap, listening to the sounds of the city. People shouting, cars driving by, an ambulance, somebody's stereo playing hip-hop at top volume... He looked up when Daredevil snorted softly.

"So. The Daily Bugle's headline tomorrow: Spider-Man Goes Apeshit!" Daredevil gave him a crooked smile. "What do you think?"

"What, about the bastard part? Or being called 'buddy'?" Peter asked. "Jameson thinks we're all in cahoots. I mean, I guess he does," Peter amended hastily, giving himself a mental kick. He was never that careless about his real identity.

Daredevil shrugged and sank down to crouch in front of Peter. "Just the bastards. The other's a little presumptuous, but I don't mind. Much."

More like a lot presumptuous, Peter thought, seeing as they'd only met a month or so ago and had spoken, like, twice. Still, he felt an undeniable sense of kinship with the guy, kind of like he did with Hank. It was pretty cool, knowing he wasn't the only costumed freak in town.

Office Hours (Peter Parker, Hank McCoy | PG13 | 9,936 words | sequel is The Wisdom to Know the Difference): Hank and Peter work together to help a young mutant unable to control her powers. This has a wonderful Hank voice, and it's so much fun to see these two science geeks hang out and bond.

Excerpt:"Hank!" the new guy said. "We--" then he turned, noticed Peter, and cleared his throat. "You're needed at home. Immediately. There's...a family emergency."

Peter saw the alarm on Hank's features and the sudden tension in his shoulders. Hank set his mug down carefully before turning to Peter. "I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to excuse us, Peter. Should I bring anything?" he asked Sunglasses Guy.

"Yourself," Sunglasses Guy said tersely. "Let's go."

Peter was almost to the door when it hit him. Family emergency, the guy had said. How many times had he used that excuse? And Hank hadn't asked what was wrong or who was sick. He'd asked if he needed to bring anything, which would have been weird...if they were actually talking about a family emergency. Which they weren't.

Without even really thinking about it, he stopped and met Hank's gaze. "Let me come with you. Whatever it is, maybe I can help."

Except:11) There are six washing machines and dryers in the laundry room, plus a plentiful supply of detergent and fabric softener. There is also an ironing board, which largely goes unused, except by Scott, who likes his pants creased, and by Bobby, who occasionally irons his shirts out of a sense of obligation to his mother. Ororo helps the youngest students with their laundry, in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the Soap Suds Incident of '97.

Charles sends his clothes out to the cleaners and has them returned folded and pressed with the socks matched and his shirts perfectly starched. The washing machines are top-loading, which is awkward for him, and besides he does not feel that he needs to build any more character at this point in his life.

Sundays in the Park (Aziraphale-Erik | G | 341 words) is a conversation between Aziraphale and Erik. It's interesting to see the differences between these two. The story packs a punch, though a subtle one.

Excerpt:Aziraphale moved his knight, furrowing his brow in concentration. Chess wasn't really his best game, but he'd thought it was worth the inevitable defeat to sit outside in the park for a few minutes and talk to someone who wasn't an American. Americans were beginning to make Aziraphale tired.

Home Maintenance (Scott-Bobby | PG13 | 6,810 words) is Scott fixing the plumbing after Bobby broke it and remembering what it was like when he was fifteen as well. Scott can be a dull character in the wrong hands but this has all the reasons why I like him. Plus, the story does an amazing job at dealing with teenage sexuality, which is really just a confusing, sticky mess.

Excerpt:Scott came in, and sat down on the floor, which was the only place really to sit down. Hank was in bed reading. He put the book down and pushed his glasses up his nose.

"To what do I owe this nocturnal visit? Has our Mr. Worthington been snoring again?"

"I just sleep through it," Scott said. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Hank, do you think I'm gay?"

Hank blinked.

"I've never really thought about it," he said. "Are you interested in girls?"

"Well, yes," Scott said. "I think. But I've never really done anything with an actual girl. Not even kissing. They won't."

Nameless (Xavier-OC | PG | 1,905 words) is a conversation between Xavier and an original student. The student's power is fascinating in that it's so very different. I also adored how his power affected him and the way he viewed the world and how he interacted in it. Everything's all very well thought out.

Excerpt:Dr. Grey said that I didn't learn like other children because I knew the names of things before my eyes could even focus right, so I never really had to look at things. She said it would help if I learned how to draw, but I can't, not even a stick figure. I can't remember what her face looked like, now, either. The shampoo she used was made with lavender and honeysuckle and the names of them were in the air.

I was still looking at the paintings on the cups. They were of flowers and each cup was different, and the flowers' names were written on them so that everyone would know.

Drawing in a Mirror (Charles/Erik | PG13 | 1,432 words) swaps around various character's mutations and then looks at who they might have been. It also takes a look at why mutant powers can sometimes suck, especially for poor Scott. Very interesting stuff.

Excerpt:Charles stretched his wing out as far as he could. If it had been fully extended, it would have swept everything off the nightstand, but there was no danger of that. Opening his wing even this much sent pain lancing through his muscles--for an instant, until Erik's fingers found the spot and soothed it. One of the humbler applications of telepathy, but certainly Charles's favorite. Charles hardly used painkillers at all anymore except when Erik was out of town.

Erik worked his way out along the wing, pushing with the heels of his hands, sometimes leaning forward to use his weight. No need for gentleness, the bones having knitted strongly if not rightly.

"How long are we going to keep doing this, Charles? Taking in these broken children that we can't help. Palliative care for lives destroyed by--"

Excerpt:The first person they met was Bobby, drinking a soda that was probably cold enough to break the teeth of anyone else. "Bobby! Nice to see you."

"Hey, Professor. Hey... Logan." Bobby eyed them curiously.

Xavier looked up to find Loganette sucking his thumb again and staring up shyly through his lashes.

At moments like these, he often wished he wore leather gloves, or had a particularly surly cat to stroke. He smiled instead. "Loganette here is learning an *important* lesson about smoking. Say 'hello' to Bobby, dear."

These Aren't the Droids (Xavier | PG13 | 475 words) has Kurt spotted by the Superintendent of Schools. Xavier's got an imaginative way of solving the problem, and I like it.

Excerpt:Kurt sat on the sofa, his head buried in his hands. "I cannot believe I showed my face in front of the Superintendent of Schools. I have only been here for three weeks, and already I have destroyed everything the Professor has built."

John, standing behind him, pointed to his head and mouthed 'Hide the knives.' Which was not funny, but Rogue had to cover her mouth anyway. John assumed an innocent expression as Kurt turned to look at him.

Wayward (Bobby-John | PG13 | 3,806 words) is Bobby and John e-mailing each other after X2. It's neat because things don't always work out happily ever after, and there are times when Bobby and John skirt around the issues and times when they blow them open.

I'm going to be very clear about this. I'm running the letter through Microsoft Word and grammar-checking to make sure I don't make any mistakes, because I don't want to be unclear here.

You are NOT a freedom fighter.

You're not even a terrorist. Terrorists are fanatics who believe in their cause, who think that it's right and good and true. You joined up with Mag-fucking-neto (shut the hell up, Microsoft grammar check, I know what I'm doing here) because you were upset that...well, fuck, Johnny-boy, I don't know. Maybe you wanted to hurt Marie, maybe you wanted to hurt me, maybe this is you being a dip-shit as usual. Hell, maybe you wanted to try and bone Mystique.

The point is you don't know what the fuck you're doing, and that scares me.

Normal (Scott | PG | 1,036 words) has Scott thinking about his mutation and what it might be like to be normal. Which sucks as a summery because this story rocks so, so much. Scott must have wondered about the things he thinks about here. And the implications of science and his mutation and others' mutations. It's all done right here.

Excerpt:He's considered the alternative, first in the long weeks of living with his eyes bandaged shut after his mutation manifested, then after the first time he saw the words "secondary mutation" in the medical journal articles and understood that his body might still betray him. "Untapped potential," Hank calls it, but Hank's a little crazy. It wouldn't even have to be that; another head injury might do it, and it's not like he never gets hit.

Where No Mutant Has Gone Before (Xavier, Enterprise crew | PG | 5,174 words) has Xavier waking up in Picard's body. The story's neat because it brings up the logical possibilities of what might have cause Picard to suddenly claim he's someone else. And I wish that Picard's side of the story had been written.

"I understand that. Is it possible my psyche has somehow become... dislodged--" (through time? How could that be?) --"and entered Captain Picard's body?" He frowned. "Except that your captain does, in fact, look exactly like me. If he's merely someone whose body I've somehow occupied by accident, that would make no sense. There must be some connection between us." Could Picard be his descendant? How could that be? David was dead, and Charles had no other children. At the age of 68, he strongly doubted he ever would, either. Nor did he feel any great loss; while David's death was still painful even all these years later, Charles hardly needed biological children when he had so many children of the heart surrounding him at his school.

Was Picard at his school? Who was Picard? These people seemed to genuinely care for him and consider him a good man, but Charles' ethical constraints had prevented him from probing more deeply than that.

"I'm... considering the possibility that something like that might have happened," Crusher said.

She was being extremely delicate, dancing around something she didn't want to say in front of him. "I don't mean to pry. But I don't need to be a mind reader to tell that there's something you don't want to tell me."

Crusher sighed. "Is it possible that you only think you're Charles Xavier?"

The Second Angel (Bobby | PG13 | 1,889 words) is Bobby during the instant ice age that hit in the movie The Day After Tomorrow, but this is not actually a crossover. This story blew me away. It's got all the things that are great about disaster flicks plus something that's more than those elements. It's horrific and it's beautiful, all at the same time.

Excerpt:Still, they spoke optimistically. It seemed that doing so was a malaise unique to the dreamers of the dream. They didn't understand. They thought Bobby had burned himself out--hah, burned himself out, it was funny because John was unconscious, blood gushing from a vicious gash across his forehead, and if he didn't wake up soon then Bobby thought that he might never laugh at anything else ever again--trying to keep the ice storms from tearing the mansion apart, in the absence of Jean's all-too-shortlived telekinetic buffer. They spoke of weathering this, the way one might weather a particularly unpleasant day in the countryside, and none of them spoke of anything else.

He knew better. Bobby had eyes and eyes further still underneath those, and with his secret sight he could see the paths of electrons all around them as they slowed and stilled on their axes. This wasn't going to go away.

This he knew in his bones, the way he knew that the sun, despite being a ball of incandescent gas, was also the bringer of life to the lifeless and hope to those who despair. This he knew: that the planet did not care whether its inhabitants lived or died, because the planet would persist, long after memory had turned to shadow had turned to ash. This he knew: that if salvation was to come from any corner, they had to deliver it themselves.

An Idiot or Just Stupid (Bobby/John | PG13 | 1,312 words) has Bobby misunderstanding what's going on between him and John. Boys are idiots sometimes, and I adore them for it.

Excerpt:Jubilee looks at Bobby from the other end of the couch and grins. "Trouble in paradise?"

"Huh?" His head whips around in the other direction and again, there's something he's apparently not getting.

"You stand him up or something?" she asks.

"Stand him up? How could I stand him up?" Bobby's not so good with the declarative statements at the moment, but since all of a sudden all he has are questions (which could really be summed up as "What the fuck?") he's just going to keep asking them for a while.

The Zippo (Bobby/John | NC17 | 2,069 words) is Bobby obsessing about John's lighter. There are a lot of sexy, sensual descriptions in this story. I, personally, like the build-up to the sex more than the sex, but that's my own quirk. And the sex is well-done too.

Excerpt:Bobby wants to know what the lighter feels like. Is it always warm from constant contact with John's skin? ("Guh," goes Bobby's brain.) It looks so smooth, but is the texture different where those shark teeth are painted on? When John's tongue idly flicks out to taste the metal (which he only does when he's concentrating really hard, like on a math test), how does it taste?

Queer Eye for the Fandom Guy (ensemble | G | 1,016 words) has the Fab Five visiting eight different characters from fandom. This thing is full of fantastic one-liners, much like the show itself, and really nails the guys routine. But no, there are so many things that are laugh-out-loud funny in this. And it doesn't get old either.